


Grand Romantic Gesture

by MiscellaneousMaybe



Category: Dawson's Creek
Genre: F/M, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:36:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29815428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiscellaneousMaybe/pseuds/MiscellaneousMaybe
Summary: Pacey has always been better at the romance than Joey, so what happens when she decides to go all out for his birthday?Basically, this story goes in a completely different direction than the reality we get in "The Te of Pacey" (4x12).
Relationships: Joey Potter/Pacey Witter
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	Grand Romantic Gesture

Let it be known, Pacey was, is, and will always be better at the grand romantic gesture. He bought her a wall. _Rented it out for a while, not bought_ – his voice practically echoes in her head. He rebuilt a boat and sailed away with her for the summer. He took dance lessons with her. He stood up to the worst people Capeside has to offer, and he noticed her mother’s bracelet at the Anti-Prom. He really excelled at moments.

Now, when Joey originally envisioned Pacey’s eighteenth birthday, she knew she had to do something big. But nothing like this.

*******

Her birthday plans for Pacey started with the vaguest idea in the back of her mind that maybe they should rent a room for the night. They hadn’t had a lot of alone time for their quote-unquote extracurricular activities recently. She misses the True Love and their ability to spend uninterrupted time alone. While Joey hadn’t quite gotten to the point of sleeping with Pacey, they very much were enjoying some heated moments of teenage lust.

What with the Potter B&B having a constantly rotating cast of characters, things would be easier at Pacey’s. Except now that Pacey lived with Gretchen, and Gretchen has seemingly spent a fair amount of time with Dawson these days. She really didn’t want Gretchen to hear Pacey and her going at it and report their business out. Dawson was always going to be a sore spot in her relationship with Pacey. Therefore, she had been kind of skittish about spending too much quality time at the Witter’s beachside home. (On rare moments that Joey was off work, Gretchen was on at work, and Pacey wasn’t drowning in schoolwork, she made an exception.)

While a hotel room was her initial plan, the idea kind of spiraled out of control.

When Mrs. Witter called about throwing Pacey a birthday party at his childhood home, Joey freaked. She knew it was a bad idea and he’d be miserable. His mom was droning on about how important it was to have Pacey over and wouldn’t Joanna just be a sweetheart to bring him around as a surprise.

Words began tumbling out of Joey’s mouth before she even had a chance to think them through.

“Wow, Mrs. Witter. That’s such a generous offer. I really would consider it except Pacey and I have other plans. We won’t be able to make it for Friday night dinner.”

“Joanna, of course, you have plans with your friends for his birthday. The group can come along to dinner too - they’d be welcome.”

“No, it’s not.. We won’t be around on Friday night. Or… or Saturday. In fact, I’m surprising him with a weekend away.”

“Oh Josie, isn’t that sweet,” Mrs. Witter croaked in a way which Joey could tell was code for that Potter girl is a slut.

Joey didn’t know how to respond. It wasn’t exactly a question. Yet she knew she had to think on her feet, “Yep! But like I said, it’s a surprise so no one will have mentioned it to Pacey. Please don’t say anything,” Joey chirped. Needing a way out of this conversation, Joey pulled out the most thinly veiled lie she could think of, “Mrs. Witter, someone’s at my door. I’m going to have to say goodbye.”

“Well then, Josie, I expect you will bring Pacey around to dinner soon.” Joey was glad no one was around to witness her hard eyeroll. She mumbled something pretty noncommittal and hung up.

******

From there she began to formulate a plan.

Joey had scrimped and saved from every job she’d ever had, all for her college fund. Thinking through how much extra Pacey must have paid to feed her throughout their trip in the Keys, however, Joey determined she could splurge a bit. She figured $300 for the whole weekend would probably be a reasonable budget. Accounting for 1 dinner out and 1 lunch, it would get her two nights in a really crappy hotel in downtown Boston or one nice night in western Mass. She even looked into renting an RV and driving up to Maine – but turns out to rent a car under the age of 25 there’s a huge surcharge.

She happily researched all her options over the course of the week until the divine intervention (or satanic, depending on who you ask) of Drue Valentine.

He was bragging about going to New York for the weekend and someone made a big spender joke about him paying for Amtrak when Drue mentioned two words that altered everything: “Spirit Airlines.”

Other than their trip down the coast this summer, Joey had never even left Cape Cod. She’d lived a small life. And when she realized you could get basically anywhere in the continental US on less than $50 a person, Joey landed on the grandest romantic gesture of her life.

*****

Then came the idea of actually getting Pacey to accompany her. It’s kind of impossible to bring someone to the airport without knowing that they are getting on a plane. Also, Joey really didn’t want to pack for Pacey. Seemed like there are just some things a man should know how to do himself.

She started slowly in the hallway of school one day, “Have you thought about what you want for your birthday, Pace?” To which Pacey flatly denied wanting to do anything at all, except spend time with her.

Another day, while studying at the library, she tried again, “I think I might have a plan for your birthday,” she tried again. Pacey shrugged and after questioning her that it would be a Witter free occasion, he thanked God it was anything but going over to his parents.

Finally, she managed to corner him at home and tried more forcefully, “You have the weekend of your birthday free, right? I made plans.”

“You really didn’t have to do that. Honestly, you know my birthday is kind of cursed, right? Nothing ever goes right on my birthday.”

“That’s not a yes or a no, Witter. Or a ‘wow thank you for your generosity, you must really love me, Potter.’ I think you could do better than that,” Joey teased.

Pacey huffed, “Fine then, Potter. Tell me your grand plans.” And granted her the most devastating smile that made Joey go weak at the knees.

After Joey divulged the plan all Pacey had to say in return was: “You’re never going to convince Bessie. Nice knowing you, Josephine. You’re dead meat.”

****

Joey had practiced exactly what she was going to say to Bessie. She rehearsed it in the mirror above her dresser in whispers. She recruited Jack and Jen to play the scenario out from all angles. She tried to find the right words to twist the truth. In the end she decided sometimes a grand romantic gesture of her own might require a little lying.

Unfortunately, Joey Potter was never very good at lying.

Bessie saw through her bullshit in two seconds flat. Yet Joey’s plan was so romantic and reckless that Bessie made her promise promise promise to take every precaution possible and even chipped in $100 from her and Bodie.

****

The day came, Joey and Pacey interlaced hands, and Joey tried not to hyperventilate. She’d never been on a plane before; she found the stale air overbearing, the seats uncomfortable, and the entire notion of flying for hours in a tin can to be antithetical to her idea of romance. She hoped she wouldn’t hurl. How tragic.

Pacey could tell that she was nervous. The sweaty palms, fidgeting body language and the fact that Joey hadn’t said a word since take off were pretty much dead giveaways that something was up.

“Sweetheart, you know people fly all the time, right? Much safer here that we were on the drive to the airport?”

“You only call me sweetheart when you’re trying to get your way.”

Pacey responded, “Well seeing how my way right now is that you lay your head on my shoulder and try to take a nap, and your way is to work yourself into enough of a panic that whatever adventure awaits us when we land will be waylaid by a trip to a hospital to help you breathe into a bag, I’d choose my way.”

“It’s your birthday, Witter. I’m not going to fight you on that,” Joey conceded and lay her head down. “I wish I brought a book for us to read together. That would have been smart of me. I’m not doing too well on this birthday weekend yet.”

“Josephine Potter, we are on an airplane for a romantic getaway. No second guessing yourself now. And besides, this is a 9 hour flight each way for a 3 day trip. We might as well make the most of it.” He winked and kissed the tip of her nose.

He was still sort of fuzzy on the plan – he knew they were on a plane for the weekend. He knew that she’d spent most of their money on flights. He knew that she had portioned out money for minimal meals out – Friday + Saturday dinner were pretty much it, if they ate both meals at relatively cheap places. She spent the morning packing granola bars and potato chips to get them through the other meals. However, their hotel situation was a little less clear to Pacey. And by the calculations Pacey had gotten a peak of inside Joey’s closely guarded composition notebook, they were cutting things pretty closely budget-wise. And that’s not to mention that Pacey knew this trip is for his cursed birthday. They’d be lucky if they even made it out of the airport to be honest.

But a weekend trapped in the airport with his love would be well worth it in Pacey’s opinion. Probably would still be his best birthday ever.

*****

In the end, it should have been obvious they were rocketing for disaster, life shattering change, and epic romance all wrapped up in one terrifying moment. Pacey had known that they were going. He had known that all Joey had ever dreamed of was going to Paris. Something about the way the lights sparkled off the Eiffel Tower - newly built and incredibly impressive even at half scale to the original - reflecting in Joey’s bright eyes made Pacey shiver. The experience was intoxicating even without a drop of alcohol in either one of their systems.

Pacey felt invincible. He was standing on the Las Vegas strip, nearly 3,000 miles from home, on another grand adventure with Joey Potter. They’d sailed the sea and they’d crossed a continent and he was so sure that he could never feel this way again. So deeply in love with someone and yet so horrifically terrified for the future that Pacey couldn’t be still.

He twisted his arm which had been casually draped over Joey’s shoulder to turn her inward and settled his hand on her back, bringing the other to her neck forcing her to lock eye contact with him. He had something to say and he needed her to know just how serious he was.

“Sweetheart…” he whispered. He willed his voice to come out with more confidence than he felt at this moment. “Thank you. For bringing me here. For the grandest romantic gesture. I…I need you to know. I need… I need you forever. We are young and we won’t always be. And I know you are going off to bigger and better things than me next year. But the thing is, I love you. I love you. And if I had my way, I’d keep you mine forever if I could. You understand?”

He needed her to know the magnitude of all that he felt in this moment. He knew that they were eighteen years old and broke, but he needed her to understand that he wanted a lifetime with her. The whole picture. That he’d be down on his knee for her if he could.

What he didn’t anticipate, was Joey’s reaction to his declaration. She must have been equally moved by the intensity of the moment.

She tilted her head just so in the way that implied she was a little skeptical of what he said and responded, “I’d marry you now if I could.”

*****

In the fictionalized, storybook version of that night, she and Pacey would have had a few too many drinks, gone out to a Vegas wedding chapel, and gotten hitched right then if they could. They would have woken up the next morning, hungover, confused, and panicking about what to tell their families.

In actuality, they like their version better.

They couldn’t have afforded a marriage license, let alone a ring or even a night at a hotel that they were sure had clean sheets. But from that moment on, Pacey and Joey became Pacey & Joey Forever. Know if, ands, or buts about it. They wouldn’t have said they were officially engaged, that came years later. But they knew that no matter where the future took them, they would go together. Even if it meant Joey passing up Worthington (snobs who wouldn’t give Joey enough financial aid; she had to turn down Dawson’s money, too many strings attached). Even if it meant Pacey not getting to sail the world for a while (because Joey couldn’t bear to have him gone that indefinitely). Even if it meant a year of living in a truly derelict studio apartment the first couple of years in Boston to save money which made them argue so badly they thought they’d never recover, until suddenly they were tearing each other’s clothes off in a passion and everything seemed suddenly fixed. Even if the world was against them. No matter what comes next. No matter what, that was the night they committed themselves wholly to one another.  
  
That night, and the rest of the adventure filled weekend that followed, went down in their books as the grand romantic gesture to top them all. Pacey’s birthday curse was officially broken. He even felt so bolstered in spirit that he agreed to go to his parents’ house the following weekend, just to keep the peace in his family (whether or not they deserved it). With Joey by his side, he knew he’d make it out the other side of their drama. He knew he’d even make it out of Capeside, a feat he didn’t used to believe was possible. He could not begin to understand when his luck had turned, but he was thankful every day.

When Joey and Pacey returned from their trip days later, Bessie asked how the whole thing had gone. Joey had come back from the trip a day late and a few excuses short of acceptable for her concerned sister. She looked un-showered and exhausted, but she had an inexplicable glow to her that she hadn’t before. Bessie asked a few pointed questions, trying to suss out whether her sister had finally slept with that Witter kid. Unfortunately, the answer she got was both more than what she wanted to know and yet still too vague.

“Bessie, from now on, please just consider us an old married couple.”

**Author's Note:**

> I originally intended to do a Vegas! fic and then I just ended up with this instead. Hope you enjoyed!!
> 
> I know this isn't super grounded in reality (no one flies 9 hours for a weekend trip) but I got them as close to Paris as I could imagine.


End file.
